Church Report Evades Question of Command Responsibility for Abuse
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union announced today the receipt of
several key documents regarding the military’s internal investigations into
allegations of abuse. The Church Report was among the documents the government
was forced to release to the ACLU as a result of a Freedom of Information Act
request regarding detainees held overseas by the United States. While the Church
Report’s executive summary was released in March of 2005, this is the first time
the full report has been made available.
“Despite its best efforts to absolve
high-ranking officials of any blame, the Church report cannot hide the fact that
abusive and unlawful interrogation techniques authorized by Secretary Rumsfeld
were used in Guantánamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan,” said ACLU staff attorney
Amrit Singh. “The facts speak for themselves, and only underscore the need
for an independent investigation into command responsibility for the widespread
and systemic abuse of detainees held in U.S. custody abroad.”
The report was
commissioned by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to conduct a comprehensive review of
Department of Defense interrogation operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and
Guantánamo Bay based on 187 investigations into detainee abuse that had been
closed as of September 30, 2004. The report did not analyze information
relating to 130 abuse cases that remained open as of that date, and issues of
senior official responsibility for detainee abuse were beyond its mandate.
The detainee abuse statistics recorded in the report are, by the U.S. military’s
own account, out of date—the report refers to six “substantiated” cases of
detainee deaths, but in March 2005, the military confirmed at least 26 instances
of suspected homicide of detainees held in U.S. custody in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Written by Vice Admiral Albert T. Church, the report
skirts the question of command responsibility for detainee abuse,
euphemistically labeling official failure to issue interrogation guidelines for
Iraq and Afghanistan as a “missed opportunity.” In addition, it references a “
failure to react to early warning signs of abuse . . .that should have prompted
. . . commanders to put in place more specific procedures and direct guidance to
prevent further abuse.”
The report provides details of how techniques
such as “stress positions”--authorized by Secretary Rumsfeld for Guantánamo Bay
in December 2002—came to be used in Afghanistan and Iraq. It specifically
notes, moreover, that the “migration” of interrogation techniques intended for
Guantánamo Bay to Iraq was “neither accidental nor uncontrolled.” Yet, the
report concludes that there is “no link between approved interrogation
techniques and detainee abuse.”
The full Church Report, along with other
documents released to the ACLU are available online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/26068lgl20060703.html